Squash: Final agony for Matthew

Dom Howson

Top seed Nick Matthew had no complaints after losing to old foe Ramy Ashour in the final of the NetSuite Open.

The three-time world champion was beaten 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4 by Ashour, who was competing in his first tournament since April.

Sheffield star Matthew, who saved multiple match balls during his quarter-final encounter with German Simon Rösner before beating Colombia’s Miguel Angel Rodriguez in the last four, said: “I kept telling myself in the fourth game that it wasn’t over but Ramy is a different kettle of fish.

“Amazing how he comes back so match sharp after so much time out when the rest of us seem to need to play our way in.

“You’re scratching your head against Ramy at times but I’ll go away and keep working to catch him and Mohamed [Elshorbagy].”

It is the second final Matthew has reached in a row and he added: “To make two finals out of two so far this season is something to be proud of. Hopefully there is more to come.”